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Surname Etymology and Meaning of CALDER

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

(origin: Local) A river in Yorkshire, England. Calduor, Gaelic and Welsh, the water that incloses or shuts in.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

1. Scottish: habitational name from any of the various places called Calder, Caldor, or Cawdor. Calder in Thurso is recorded in the early 13th century in the form Kalfadal and was named with Old Norse kalfr ‘calf’ + dalr ‘valley’. The others are probably the same as in 2 below.
2. English: habitational name from Calder in Cumbria, named from the river on which it stands. This is probably a British name, from Welsh caled ‘hard’, ‘violent’ + dwfr ‘water’, ‘stream’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)